Improving patient care

Simulation-based Education

Patient safety is a global health issue

Globally, it is estimated that medical errors result in approximately 1.2 million deaths, every year. The World Health Organization has published a report suggesting that harm from medical care poses a substantial burden in terms of morbidity and mortality on people around the world.

1 in 10 Patients

Harmed while receiving healthcare

43 Million

Annual patient safety incidents

$42 Billion

Annual cost due to medical errors

The opportunity to practice

One of the biggest challenges for improving patient safety is the opportunity to practice. Clinical placement opportunities, especially within nurse education, are becoming increasingly limited as the demand for healthcare workers increases due to aging populations.

Not only is the opportunity for practice essential, but also the ability to practice safely without putting patients at risk. Simulation-based training allows students, physicians, nurses, and other healthcare providers to integrate cognitive learning with hands-on skills practice without risk to patients.

Reducing medical errors and improving patient safety are essential elements of patient care, but not the only ones. Providing optimal patient care also includes uncovering latent safety threats, facilitating teamwork and communication, and ensuring professional competency is not only maintained, but improved.

Simulation-based education

The methodology of simulation education has gained widespread recognition within the field of healthcare as a powerful tool for reinforcing clinical knowledge, improving team communication, and teaching decision-making skills. Simulation is an educational methodology, not a technology. Simulation can be used not only to teach clinical skills, but also teamwork and communication. It can also be used to standardize training, meet evidence-based guidelines, and target specific goals. There is a shift in mindset from what simulation can do to how simulation can be best used to improve patient care.

Does simulation work?

Healthcare training has traditionally relied on a “see one, do one” approach to teaching. Teaching in this context focuses on imparting knowledge. Simulation-based training makes that knowledge come alive—alive in a setting designed to imitate real clinical encounters and lifelike experiences where clinicians can refine their individual and team skills without posing risk to real patients.

10 Best Practices in Simulation

How Laerdal can help

With more than 65 years of experience in the simulation industry, we have a long history of working with leading healthcare experts and advocacy organizations around the world. We continuously innovate to improve not only our products and services, but how to best implement them to help our customers succeed. Because we learn from the best, so can you. Our large global customer base enables us to collect feedback to modify and improve our solutions to meet real user needs. We have learned that simulation is not only about technology, simulation is about techniques which not only include skills, but also insights into communication, teamwork, and leadership.